Fun Size Review
2.5/4 Stars
A Sweet, But Extremely Formulatic Comedy
Comedies are usually a great thing. They make us laugh while yet entertaining you with a great story. However this one didn't meet these very well. While it did provide a few good laughs (largely due to the best friend April, Jane Levy), ultimately the story sort of fizzled out. Mostly because it took place mainly on one night of searching and only a couple other subplots. Also, the actors to me felt fairly genuine, and they made you care about them personally, but not really care as much about the outcome of the whole plot. Speaking of the plot, here it is:
Wren (Victoria Justice) is a senior in high school, seriously ready to get away from her dysfunctional family to college. This includes her widowed but eager to be young again mother (Chelsea Handler), and her slightly pudgy and annoying brother Albert. It becomes Halloween night and Wren and her bestie April (Jane Levy) are miraculously invited to their crushes party (Thomas Mcdonell). Ecstatic about things finally going her way, she is disappointed to find her mother decided to hit the clubs that night and leave her to babysit/trick-or-treat with her brother. April, upset to find this out, still decides to stay with her throughout the night. As the three walk aimlessly through the neighborhood, Wren and April take a brief moment to look at their phone, when Albert runs off. Distraught, Wren panics and keeps yelling for him. With no car she and April are starting to get desperate, so they get help from nerdy but sweet classmate Roosevelt (Thomas Mann) and his pal. Throughout the night these teens do whatever it takes to find Albert.
Another severely underdeveloped part of the story was the supposed romance between Wren and her crush. They were shown in a couple scenes together and then it ends, with nothing more to it. One thing though that this movie did do right was its tender emotion towards Wren and Albert's late father. The story did a nice job of showing us the journey of this family and the love they had for him. So emotion was the one thing I really appreciated. Also, it gave a nice spotlight on Jane Levy to start on her movie career. It's very evident she is funny and will be headed for great things. All in all, the title says it all. It's not much, but it’s very sweet.